3 replies to this topic

[Waganga]

Hi Everyone,

 

I am looking for 2-3 somewhat established camponotus queens to purchase in Colorado. I am considering catching my own, but I am concerned about the 6-12 month waiting period for a new queen to get established. I'm interested in purchasing a queen that is a few months away from ready to move into a formicarum. I'm also interested in purchasing these queens from someone with experience raising camponotus, in case I have questions about how to build their habitat/what to feed them/what might be going right or wrong. 

 

I'm open to other beginner species as well, but I am most interested in a camponotus species, as they don't sting and have a unique nesting habit that is interesting to me (nesting in wood). 

 

I have limited transportation, and so ideally would appreciate someone who can easily meet in the north Denver Metro area.

 

Please post back with species, cost, and info on how long ago the queen was captured/how she is doing (and ideally a few images!).

 

Thanks for reading!
Kayla

 

 

[CallMeCraven]

Welcome to the forum Kayla!

 

I would recommend still trying to go out and catch your own queens, right now is the perfect time for Camponotus! Catching you own queen and raising her into an established colony is the most rewarding part of this hobby. As for having questions, that is totally normal and most people here have experience with a multitude of different ant species. By raising your own queens, you learn a lot about their behavior and little quirks that will help you better care for them when they are full fledged colonies. If you do decide to venture out and try to catch your own Camponotus queens, it is important to note that they can also be readily found in dirt as well as wood. Flipping over rocks is often the best way of finding queens.

 

If you have any questions, post them on the forum and I am sure you will at least get a few responses trying to help. 

[Waganga]

Welcome to the forum Kayla!

 

I would recommend still trying to go out and catch your own queens, right now is the perfect time for Camponotus! Catching you own queen and raising her into an established colony is the most rewarding part of this hobby. As for having questions, that is totally normal and most people here have experience with a multitude of different ant species. By raising your own queens, you learn a lot about their behavior and little quirks that will help you better care for them when they are full fledged colonies. If you do decide to venture out and try to catch your own Camponotus queens, it is important to note that they can also be readily found in dirt as well as wood. Flipping over rocks is often the best way of finding queens.

 

If you have any questions, post them on the forum and I am sure you will at least get a few responses trying to help. 

 

Thanks for responding! 

 

My hesitation for catching my own queen is time constraints, and the initial timeline of care. I'm typically either at school or at work, so I don't have much time to go antspotting the very day after random Colorado rainstorms, and without the right timing I'd think my luck is limited. In addition, I'm kind of turned off by the initial test tube step. I'm not very interested in staring at ants in a plastic tube or plastic box. My interest is actually in building a naturalized terrarium-like setup for camponotus, complete with rotting wood and natural plants, probably in something like an old fishtank. I'm not sure I can just dump a newly caught queen into a setup like that and hope she'll do her thing, or if I'd have to keep her in some kind of test tube setup until she has enough workers to start building a proper colony, and then move her into the natural setup. I've heard it can take up to 1 year for this process. If I knew I could place her into a natural setup right away, or even within just a few months, I'd probably be more likely to go searching for my own queen.

 

I do actually have a few questions regarding the fitness of that whole plan, but I placed those in another post over in General Antkeeping.

[CallMeCraven]

Gotcha.

 

For the most part, most people who sell ants are starting to build up their stocks, and they mostly sell out through the fall. Camponotus can be very slow, maybe getting 6 workers in their first year. Even at that point, which most people try to sell them (maximizes money earned for time spent blah, blah) the colony really isn't big enough for their own formicarium/terrarium. that's one of the reasons they are beginner friendly; it's hard to get overwhelmed by them. As for having time to go get them, that gets rough. Camponotus fly at night so sometimes you get lucky, like i did this year, and they have a large flight that results in them covering your driveway where you can just scoop them up. After that and you get them put into test tubes, you don't even have to look at them for a few weeks . 

 

I will take a look at that thread and see if i can answer anything for you, but best of luck!